There was a lot at stake for the Colorado Avalanche heading into this game. With a victory, the Avalanche could leapfrog the Kings and Coyotes in the Western Conference standings to move into playoff position. Colorado is in a tough 4-team battle for the final two playoff spots and have fewer games remaining. They desperately need wins.

As for the Canucks, they clinched the Northwest Division when the Calgary Flames lost to the Dallas Stars earlier in the day, so they had slightly less at stake. Despite the complete lack of urgency, the Canucks showed resilience, heart, character, gumption, and chutzpah in a tough and chippy game that I closely observed when I watched this game.

Canucks 3 – 2 Avalanche (OT)

Daryl Reaugh was a delight as the colour analyst, in stark contrast to Mark Lee’s play-by-play. Not only was his analysis on the mark, his language was actually colourful. A misplay by Burrows in front of Luongo was called a “fumble bumble.” Luongo’s play was described as “radiant” but he later gave up a “buxom rebound” that clearly distracted Matt Duchene with its cleavage so that he fanned on the shot. Hopefully we get to hear a lot more from Razor on Canucks broadcasts in the future.

The Avalanche opened the scoring on the powerplay just over a minute into the game after a bad pass by Dan Hamhuis in the neutral zone led to a Too Many Men penalty on the Canucks. Everything seemed to go wrong at once: Manny Malhotra lost the faceoff, Sami Salo lost track of the puck, Roberto Luongo lost the post, Tootles lost his marbles and Jannik Hansen lost Gabriel Landeskog.

Lack of possession in the defensive zone hurt the Canucks in this game: Malhotra was 3-for-8 on defensive zone faceoffs, while Kesler was 3-for-7 and Henrik 0-for-2. The only centre above 50% in the defensive zone was Samme Pahlsson, who was 3-for-5. Given that defensive zone faceoffs are meant to be a Canucks specialty, it’s officially time to freak out. I suggest deploying your ink defense and fleeing.

Despite giving up a bad rebound and losing track of the puck on the first goal, Luongo was superb throughout the game. The shots were 14-3 for the Avalanche just halfway through the first period, but Luongo kept things close and finished with 38 saves. You could tell he was in a groove: after a third period save on Matt Duchene, he started breakdancing in his crease.

Aaron Rome had an interesting first period, starting with what looked like a dirty blindside hit on Avalanche defenceman Tyson Barrie, but proved to be a lot cleaner on the replay. Rome actually skated past Barrie in order to make contact with his chest instead of hitting him from the blindside. That didn’t stop Chuck Kobasew from going after Rome a couple minutes later, delivering a late, high hit to Rome’s head. Here’s a question: what happened to fighting? Why are guys headhunting as payback instead of dropping the gloves?

Rome was actually dominant physically early in the game, as several Avalanche players just bounced off of him when they tried to throw a body check. The only player that was able to get the best of Rome was Matt Hunwick, who knocked him down awkwardly, causing Rome to leave the game with a knee injury. I would say that he took an arrow in the knee, but that meme is dreadfully overused.

Kobasew’s hit on Rome wasn’t the only high hit in the game, as Mark Olver took a flying leap into Chris Tanev in the second period, leading to David Booth and Alex Burrows introducing themselves to Olver, then introducing Olver to the Canucks bench. Face first.

It appears that Ryan Kesler is testing out his BeastMode™ switch prior to the playoffs, as he was dominant in this game. He finished with 5 shots on net, with his best scoring chance coming after making a gorgeous outside-inside move to undress Ryan Wilson and force a nice shoulder save from Semyon Varlamov. When Kesler stops undressing himself and starts undressing his opponents, that’s a good sign.

The long change in the second period cost the Canucks a goal, as Varlamov sent a gorgeous outlet pass up to Paul Stastny, who set up Jamie McGinn for a breakaway. He made no mistake, snapping the puck past Luongo’s blocker. Cory Schneider could be seen on the Canucks’ bench frantically taking notes: Pass the puck to teammate rather than opponent. Genius!

Evil Mason Raymond has taken advantage of Daniel Sedin’s absence, skating a regular shift alongside Henrik Sedin on the top line and making it look like he belongs there. He finished with a team-high 6 shots and 9 shot attempts, and also added 2 takeaways. When the powerplay failed to convert in the first period, he found himself promoted to the first powerplay unit and the move paid off immediately when he pick up a deflected Sami Salo wristshot and put the puck, like a bartender’s baseball bat, right under the bar.

With Daniel out indefinitely, it seemed unlikely that we would see any Sedin-esque wizardry from the Canucks, but Samme Pahlsson had a trick up his sleeve. Kevin Bieksa found him with a slick pass in the slot and he immediately spun a blind backhand pass to (figuratively) streaking Chris Higgins, who fired the puck top corner, where circle takes the square.

My original notes for Higgins’ goal were “Wow wow wow.” Somehow that strikes me as a more accurate description than what I just wrote.

During Mason Raymond’s second intermission interview with Scott Oake, HNIC listed @21masonraymond as Raymond’s twitter handle on screen below his name. One problem: it’s clearly a fake account. Red flags include nonsensical tweets, only a couple thousand followers, and no confirmed Canucks twitter accounts among his followers. Pro tip: try asking the player what his Twitter handle is before putting it on a national broadcast.

The chippy play continued in the third period, as Steve Downie came flying in on the forecheck for a big hit on Hamhuis. After the puck cleared the zone, he re-engaged with Hamhuis and Maxim Lapierre stepped in. A scrum ensued in front of the Canucks’ bench, with the highlight being the calming hand of Alain Vigneault on Zack “Snack Pack” Kassian’s shoulder, making sure he didn’t jump on top of the boards to deliver a Ram Jam to Downie.

After the scrum, one of Landeskog’s “TaylorMade” sticks ended up in the Canucks bench, where one of the arena staff snagged it and passed it into the stands to a fan in a Canucks jersey in the crowd for a souvenir. The referee wasn’t having any of that, forcing the fan to return it. Spoilsport.

Jannik Hansen made an absolutely incredible play on the overtime gamewinner. On the forecheck, he shoved Tyson Barrie off the puck like an angry nerd flipping a table, then found Chris Higgins with an absolutely sick pass through the legs of David Jones. That pass was so sick that even Dr. House didn’t know what to make of it, except that it definitely didn’t have Lupus. Chris “Kiss Huggins” Higgins had no choice but to finish it off with a one-timer between Varlamov’s legs and accept the longest hug of his life.

74 comments

Josh D.

No seriously, throwing that kid into the boards before setting up that goal? Love it!

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Rating: +29 (from 31 votes)

Zach Morris

March 25, 2012

“Judo” Hansen

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Rating: +7 (from 7 votes)

Brent

March 25, 2012

Well about time! You are either up really late or really early.

Thanks for the link to the Hollywood Squares, classic stuff! Nice IWTG as well since I didn’t.

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Rating: +3 (from 3 votes)

peanutflower

March 25, 2012

Ha, I came within milliseconds of turning this game off at 2-zip. I thought this was a pretty good game. I like how everyone is sticking up for everyone else. I feel sorry for poor Barry getting absolutely bounced off the puck like that. In a game as important as this one he was probably the wrong guy to have out there in OT. Luongo was great. Razor is eons ahead of Weekes as a colour guy. Is he the Dallas guy a well?

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Rating: +9 (from 9 votes)

hockeyispretty

March 25, 2012

Yes, he’s the Dallas guy. CBC HAS to get him for more Canucks games – he’s fantastic. If only they’d get the play by play guy he usually works with, too. They were so funny at the last Stars game. When Dale Weiss kept popping up in that fight, he said, “Weiss is treating the ice like it’s a trampoline!” Bwa ha ha.

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Brosef Stalin

March 25, 2012

A Zoidberg reference?

HOORAY!

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jimbob

March 25, 2012

whoo da woop woop woop

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Rituro

March 25, 2012

“Blood… THICKER… water.”

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MelT

March 25, 2012

Daniel, I think this is your funniest PITB (so far!). Wow wow wow.

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Nick

March 25, 2012

Another nice quote by Reaugh on the replay of Hansen knocking Barrie off the puck:”There’s the one-on-one battle.. man against boy.” Love it.

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SaturnCat

March 26, 2012

Has Reaugh ever heard Hansen’s voice before saying that? :-p

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jenny wren

March 25, 2012

They’d forty shots and all but two
Were turned aside by Bobby Lu!
From those goals down the Nucks came back,
And showed the grit some think they lack!

MayRay from Salo and Sedin!
Since sitting out he sure has been
Playing with great tenacity
In his first line capacity!

Then Higgins scored from Sammy P ,
With an assist from Kevin B,
And thus it was the score was tied -
The next goal would the game decide.

From Jannick H and Kevin B
Chris scored his second in OT!
While Colorado got a point,
Vancouver did not disappoint.

As for the stars they were for me:
Bobby Lu Higgins and number three!

Jenny Wren

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Rating: +22 (from 22 votes)

Zach Morris

March 25, 2012

Who, in the standings, are we behind by two?
Merely the Rangers, and the St. Louis Blues

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Andre

March 25, 2012

It wasn’t just Hansen who made a play through the legs: Higgins shot through the narrow gap between Paul Stasny’s skates and the narrower gap between Varlamov’s pads. It was a triple-headed needle thread!

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Rating: +21 (from 21 votes)

shoes

March 25, 2012

Ok great read and I am glad you brought up the headshots. Because several medias tweeted about Romes headshot on the AVs player and the “karma” that caused his injury. I personally feel that Romes hit looked bad,because he was bigger than the other guy. It did not cause injury which is often a sign it is not as bad a check as some would have us believe, much like Dannys hit on Keith. However the same media types ignored the 2 distinct headshots from the AVs players that were more of the “deliberate” type. I am having trouble figuring out how 2 refs and some media guys from back East can miss these shots and yet catch every single thing that the Canucks may possibly do wrong AND then it dawned on me…….TURN to either Mark Twain or Leo Tolstoy for advice and here is what Leo said:

“The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if has not formed any idea of them already; BUT the simplest thing, cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him” Leo Tolstoy 1897

I have come to believe that the Canucks are getting screwed by some in the press and by some referees simply because of the overwhelming volume of negative press they picked up, true or mostly not, in last years Stanley Cup playoffs. It was prevalent and somewhat slanderous on both National networks ……NBC (Milbury) and CBC (Maclean) throughout the playoffs and I believe it evolved and was “bought” by many and their minds were and still are firmly made up. Jon Stewart agrees with me.

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peanutflower

March 25, 2012

Well said. And now Rome is apparently out 7 to 10 days with a tweaked knee, but still the focus would be on his “high” hit that never was and no mention of the retaliatory hit that now results in an injury. And yes, that was purely retaliatory.

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shoes

March 25, 2012

Kobasew got a 2500 fine for his shot on Rome….the fine is not much, but the record is, because now he is no longer a first offender.

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hockeyispretty

March 25, 2012

Hmm… not true, actually. They just treated Duncan Keith as a first time offender by carefully saying he has never before been SUSPENDED, even though he has been fined. You are right, it should be true – but the NHL is wrong, so it isn’t true.

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Brent

March 25, 2012

Really good point. Not sure how it is that the Canucks always lose the public relations battle. Really evident in the SCF when WE were the bad guys! Even after our win i Boston this season, it was all about how Thorton fought 7 guys and then whimpy Dale Weise backed out of fighting him. And not enough attention paid to the cheap shot by Marchant. Not sure how we “fix” this. I suspect it is too late. The media stuff is annoying but likely has less influence that how the refs feel.

Probably didn’t help when Luongo fell over after having a Colorado player pushed into him after the Downie hit on Hamhuis. Looked like he was trying a little too hard to sell it which is never a good idea; having your goalie lying on the ice when you don’t know if they are going to call the penalty.

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Amor de Cosmos

March 25, 2012

My sense is that this stems from the Auger/Burrows incident and the subsequent verbal beatdown AV gave Mr Passive-Aggressive on national TV. I think the ripples from that went a lot further and deeper than many of us realised at the time. If you’re part of the club everything is supposed to stay within its walls. The Nux, as an organization, broke the unwritten rules of the NHL and its minions and is still being punished for it. [/tinfoil hat]

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hockeyispretty

March 25, 2012

It was indeed slander, by definition. In UK they could be sued for some of the things they say on the CBC. During Burrowsgate, influential sports commentators would state as a fact, “That’s intent to cause injury” during replays. It’s irresponsible.

Funny thing about us Canadians: if you tell them not to believe everything they read in the newspapers because it’s slanted, selected, and packaged as a product for sale rather than info for public service, they puff up and say, “I know that!” Then they just believe absolutely everything they see on the news unless they already know otherwise.

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Zach Morris

March 25, 2012

Mason Raymond scored two games in a row.

MASON RAYMOND SCORED TWO GAMES IN A ROW.

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Rating: +42 (from 42 votes)

chicken chick

March 25, 2012

One goal and one assist
Helped give Buffalo a win
It may be he won’t be missed
But Gillis must be wonderin’

Chicken Hawk

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Rating: -7 (from 17 votes)

canucks in europe

March 25, 2012

yeah that empty netter sure sealed the deal for buffalo…stunning goal

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chicken hawk

March 25, 2012

two assists against tampa bay
two goals versus montreal
it’s quite clear the kid can play
and Kassian’s done sf all

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Micheal

March 25, 2012

okaaaay…

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Phileo99

March 25, 2012

Great IWTG summary. With 3pts in past 2G, and also playing very well in the game before that, it looks like I may have to get off the trade MayRay bandwagon.
Avs re-inforced PITB’s assertion that a 2 goal lead is the worst lead to have in the playoffs. With Canucks trailing heading into the 2nd period, which is usually when they perform their worst during the course of a game, I too, was ready to write off the canucks, esp. after the Avs scored to make it 2-0. MayRay led the charge with that timely PPG, and with the momo on their side, the Canucks struck again within a couple of minutes. Pahlsson certainly showed the media pundits something they’ve never seen before – offensive upside!! Great comeback effort especially without their top goal scorer in the lineup.
I am somewhat concerned about AV’s reluctance to play Kassian in more different situations, but with the Canucks 1.5 games away from locking up 2nd place in the conference (combo of 1.5 wins by Canucks or 1.5 losses by the stars), it would be hard for me to find fault with the Canucks wanting to flip the switch back to OFF (or at least to COAST), and focus on staying healthy and sharp for their remaining games.
FWIW, my mom saw MayRay for the very first time (and not the scar near his lips from when he took a puck to the face back in Dec/11), and thought she was kinda cute ….!?!?!?!

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sarah

March 25, 2012

It was nice to see that the team no longer has qualms about hugging Higgins anymore. Hoping this means the zombism – and the accompanying desire to eat human flesh – is gone for good.

After the Canucks were handed a Too-Many-Men penalty in the first, one of the announcers said that there were clearly six human beings on the ice. That made me excited because I had no idea that that Canucks went to Greendale.

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hockeyispretty

March 25, 2012

Either that, or all the Canucks are zombies now, so they can all hug. A family germ is a family germ.

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G. McRae

March 25, 2012

In addition to the Canucks stealing the stick, I think they ended up with a glove in an earlier scrum at the benches. You could see the Avalanche victim asking around for his glove and then motioning the Vancouver bench to give it back, kind of like this kid… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRwLLzsrrtk. Later in yet another scrum, Lapierre was trying to grab the glove off an Avalanche player. Stealing gloves is better than biting.

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Harrison Mooney

March 25, 2012

Burrows stole a glove earlier this season too. Is this the Canucks’ new thing?

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Rating: +6 (from 6 votes)

hockeyispretty

March 25, 2012

Well, any opponent who complains will DEFINITELY be called a whiner, so it’s a brilliant strategy. Like when Bieksa was on After Hours and his little boy came up saying someone took his ball. “Well, go fight for it!”

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the real bob

March 25, 2012

Ron Mclean and Co. have to rip on it first to be “official”

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Micheal

March 25, 2012

Just another reason why the Canucks are The most hated team in the NHL™

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Rating: +4 (from 4 votes)

shoes

March 25, 2012

Well if it happens one more time….Ron Maclean might notice and there goes another 20 minute on “how glove stealing is just not part of the game” (insert ageing buffoon, shaking head sadly and repetivelly) in between clips of the Canucks stealing like crazy.

|Did they get suspended for that theft, Collie?

I am hugely disappointed as to how this heavily subsidized CBC, allows OUR employees to slag the Canucks. And worse than the slagging……i absolutely hate it when Ron and Mike try to grovel and pump up the Canucks. Talk about a pair of condescending sounding goofs at that point. They can’t win me over my that garbage…..leaving us alone would make me feel better, though.

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the real bob

March 25, 2012

if he doesn’t show the islanders diving like soccer players in today’s game, I lose what little respect I have to McLean and Co.

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Ella

March 25, 2012

“Pro tip: try asking the player what his Twitter handle is before putting it on a national broadcast.”

BAHAHAHA… so true!! Great game recap!

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Anonymous

March 25, 2012

They did that for Lu during his aftergame interview, they said his twitter handle was 1robertoluongo. Does CBC not have people that check this stuff?

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tj

March 25, 2012

That’s two games in a row AV has kept a steadying hand on Kassian’s shoulder. Wonder if someone’s going to accuse AV of holding Kassian back.

I half-watched this game because a) the 2-0 score I came upon unnerved me, and the voices on CBC were unknown. I’m mad at myself because I’d heard Reagh is amazing to listen to, but the tone of his voice seems so flat, I thought it was going to be a poor imitation of Weekes. Stupid me.

Great IWTG, now I must go watch full game highlights.

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peanutflower

March 25, 2012

That was way more than a steadying calming hand from AV, that was almost a bear hug across Kassian’s chest. It will be fun to see what happens the day that bear hug turns into a push on the back and a little whisper in the ear.

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hockeyispretty

March 25, 2012

Full game is on CBC online. The one redeeming feature of CBC, in my opinion.

let’s start a new Twitter trend: #moreicetimeforKassian

Just to shake things up.

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Brent

March 25, 2012

Thanks but I am out f the country so it is “not available” at this time. I will check it out when I get back.

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hockeyispretty

March 25, 2012

They keep them on just about forever – at least the whole season. I still have that 7-4 win against Washington in my playlist. The night they turned it around and started to win. *beams*

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Brent

March 25, 2012

I couldn’t watch the game, is there video of this holding back of Kassian? Love to see it.

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peanutflower

March 25, 2012

There is on youtube for the game highlights, but it only shows what I guess might be the first time in this game that AV holds Kassian back , or maybe before his arm goes all the way around in front of him after what the highlights show. I found a link somewhere that I can’t relocate that has the melee in front of the bench and AV’s arm all the way around Kass. It’s pretty funny.

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obituary mambo

April 5, 2012

I also only half watched this game. I stumbled home at 5am (I live in Europe) after an afternoon/night of drinking to find that I’d missed the first period, which is just as well I suppose. Luckily, somehow I managed to catch all the goals between bouts of dozing off due to over consumption of awesome Czech beer and the unfortunate time zone difference. So glad I have IWTG to fill in the gaps.

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VanFan85

March 25, 2012

I’ve been very respectful towards the fans of two certain teams in Alberta and so far I have restrained from being a hater and throwing the vitriol back over the Rockies. After the Canucks ground out a good comeback win last night I had to read countless comments from the Alberta trolls about how the Canucks almost lost to another weak NW team, how its inevitable that the Canucks are going to choke in the 1st round, and this team will never win a Stanley Cup because the franchise has yet to win one in 41 years. I know Canucks fans get a bad rep online becasue anytime we fire back to defend our team we are labeled whining homers and the trolls then make the excuse that they troll the Canucks because we started it (even though we were only standing up for ourselves and out team). This morning I finally had enough and stooped to their level and trolled an Oilers story. I feel ashamed that it came to this, does it make me a bad person?

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peanutflower

March 25, 2012

Of course not! I do it all the time and write out crappy moron stuff because I get so pissed off, but I never post it. I find writing it out seems just as cathartic. It’s pointless to argue.

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taco

March 25, 2012

The only message that truly reaches its recipient is the one that is never sent.

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Shand

March 25, 2012

welcome to sports fandom in the age of the internet

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shoes

March 25, 2012

You need help…..but only a bit to get over any little feelings of shame. I totally love to reply to them in all manners of bad manners. HOWEVER, my one rule is to never go and slag them just for the fun of it or because they had a bad game. Replying to insults with some creative insults of your own is an time honored process perfected by Mark Twain. Hint here; Albertan hockey fans do not like stereotypes, so mullets, ’78 dodge pickups with mix ‘n match tires and trailer parks, snowstorms in June are all things that seem to get them a bit wound up. Happy I could help, if indeed I did.. hahahahahaha

Chris T.

hockeyispretty

The CBC acknowledged Luongo’s great play by making him their first star and also by posting online a little feature of some of his best saves last night! (+)

They also claimed that he’s been resting and hasn’t played in a week. (-) Suggesting another new Twitter hashtag: #CBCneedfactcheckers

Poor Lu – second game in a row that he played like a star but didn’t get a Crown Royal star. What was going on there?

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shoes

March 25, 2012

Avs had two stars and us 1……hahahaha

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Nick

March 25, 2012

I’m not a Lu hater … and I agree that he played well last night.

But I do like Schneider, and some people misinterpret that as not liking Luongo.

I think that fans’ love for Lu is why there hasn’t been more talk about how Cory is having a season for the ages … with the 2nd best SV% in the league (.934) and a top 5 GAA (2.04) … there are numbers that goalies even as great as Luongo have never achieved, and we may never see this again in Vancouver.

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hockeyispretty

March 25, 2012

It is great to watch either of them- I also love Schneids. I think Lu doesn’t get enough credit for dealing with the more intense psychological pressure. I know there’s a certain downside to sitting for a string of games and then playing, but it’s never just another night at the office- he’s PUMPED. There’s none of the slog and grind of being a starter. He’s always hungry when he plays; and also, he only plays when he’s hot. The moment he starts letting goals in, AV defaults back to Lu; when he’s looking like a star in practice, AV knows that’s a good time to start CS.

So I think his numbers improve slightly based on how he’s played (as a backup) compared to if he were played as a starter. (Remember when he was on that red-hot streak when Lu came back from injury last fall: the second he started letting a few in, Lu was in net.)

But just to be clear, I think he’s as good as any starter in the league & capable of being a great goalie for any team. We love our Schneider. To the cup, boys! Onward!

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cathylu

March 25, 2012

I think Lu has been playing so well. I thought he was fantastic in the Chicago game and I was sorry we didn’t get the full two points there.

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akidd

March 25, 2012

thanks to the av fans and team for playing this game at 7pm pacific time.

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JanBanan

March 25, 2012

This was a great game to watch. It was fantastic watching Duchene get so flustered in the third when all of his work just wouldn’t convert into scoring chances. The defensive corps were very good last night, but Bieksa needs to stop the no-look passes. He’s not a Sedin. I was nervous going into overtime that we’d have a repeat of the last time we went into extra time, but Hansen and Higgins took care of that just fine.
Did anyone else hear PJ Stock go off about Kassian after the game? I nearly turned off the post-game if Ron MacLean (and Kelly Hrudey?) didn’t set him straight. If Hodgson still didn’t have any goals as a Sabre, you can bet that piece wouldn’t have been said. The kid’s a rookie who’s just been traded across the continent. He wasn’t as invisible tonight as he has been in the past- he had a couple nice plays in the offensive zone and used himself well in front of the net. He, oddly enough, seems to fit somewhat well with Henrik and Raymond. He’s not quick on his feet but he’s not slow. I have enough confidence in Vancouver’s scouts that we picked him up for a reason. He hasn’t been losing us games, so I’m not complaining.

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andy j

March 25, 2012

I just turn the TV off when PJ Stock is on any segment. Dude has Bruins glasses on all the time….. He speaks like an ignorant biased fan, instead of an informed analyst on a National TV broadcast.

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John in Marpole

March 26, 2012

Substitute ‘Don Cherry’ for ‘P.J. Stock’ and you’d still have a 100% accurate statement.

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hockeyispretty

March 25, 2012

Pre and post game interviews are not worth the time, but have you guys seen the post-game celebration on canucks.com? Highlights:
- AV is a hand shaker, not a hugger
- Goaltender padding is ginormous. I never saw it without a sweater over top before.
- Burrows is definitely a leader in the dressing room. Until he comes in, the only signs that they won were a little smile on Kassian’s face (and Lappy’s, but he always looks crazy so that could be nothing) and MayRay saying, “Higgy!”

cathylu

March 25, 2012

Yes, that was fun to watch.

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sarah

March 25, 2012

My favourite thing about that video is that the only Canucks in Division Winner merch are two of the newbies: Kassian with the T-shirt and Booth with the hat. I’m guessing these two are excited at the prospect of the playoffs

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andy j

March 25, 2012

I think the NorthWest Divison champ stuff was an overkill…… Its Stanley Cup or bust this year

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piker

March 25, 2012

Hooray for Reaugh!
Today, the Canucks game was more entertaining than the Whitecaps. Watching both is the burden of a two-sport fandom.

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cathylu

March 25, 2012

I also was almost ready to throw in the towel when we were down 0-2, but I have learned so much about the “dreaded 2 goal lead” that I knew we still had a chance. The thing I like about our team is that everyone can score not just our “stars”. Good job Higgy and Mason! (and Lu).

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WorldTravels

March 25, 2012

CBC also displayed Lu’s twitter name on national broadcast, unfortunately it was inaccurate.

This Razor guy is GOLD! “He’s like a supermodel in net, all leggy”. I just about fell off my couch laughing. He’s the Dallas Stars broadcaster, I watch those games just to hear him. He’s always very accurate, smart, not biased and complementary of other teams. But him and his play by play partner play so well off eachother, best broadcast team in the NHL — by far.

This is the 2nd game in a row where Av had to ‘fatherly’ hold Kassian back on the bench. That’s why I love Kass, he’s a bit unhinged and rough around the edges, something the Canucks are clearly missing.

Go Nuck Go!

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the real bob

March 25, 2012

Honey badger takes what it wants, unfortunately for Tyson Barrie, he had what the Honey Badger wanted.

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shoes

March 25, 2012

I can understand liking Schneider and I think he is now officially a peer of Lou’s Fact is we have two of the best in the game, when they are on their game, but everybody is too critical of Luongo because of certain history and that will not change unless he is the man of record that wins the cup.

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hockeyispretty

March 25, 2012

Oh, I think it won’t change even then. Unless he wins the cup EVERY YEAR. FOREVER. Maybe not even then. We do have our little hobby of critiquing wins in Vancouver.

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tom selleck's moustache

March 25, 2012

After reading the rave reviews of Reagh’s commentary, I watched some of the game on cbc.ca and have to admit that he is pretty good. One call that made me chuckle was when Bieksa’s highsticked by David Jones as Jones was trying to lift Bieksa’s stick and misses: “Jones goes in to lift his stick and, instead, lifts HIS EYEBROW…”

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JDM

March 26, 2012

Glad you guys mentioned Razor because that was an absolute breath of fresh air for a CBC broadcast – good commentary in a game not involving Hughson? I… I don’t understand. You’re next, Lee.

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